"Well, well, well, hello Miss Ericsson," a voice said behind Bennett as she scanned one of the selves in the grocery store she was in.
She turned to see who exactly it was who was speaking to her since she didn't recognize the voice and found Damon Salvatore standing there with a smirk on his face. Bennett was beginning to think that the smirk was permanently stuck on his face because even if that moment was the second time she saw him it seemed to be a common thing for him. He looked her up down which made her blush since she was wearing a pair of yoga pants and a tank top and her hair thrown up in a messy pony tail. She had gone for a run earlier, but hadn't been bothered to take a shower or even change for that matter to just go to the grocery store. But at that moment she was really regretting that decision as she tired to avoid his gaze.
It was also embarrassing because even if she didn't want to admit it, he was good looking. He had beautiful bright blue eyes and sharp jaw and dark hair that brought out his eyes even more. Not to mention the leather jacket and dark jeans and T-shirt he wore with scuffed up black boots. He screamed dangerous with a hidden dark side and Bennett always found herself attracted to men like that. Even after countless times of dating men like that it always turned out badly. She never learned and she found herself finding him attractive even if he would never go for a girl like him.
She was all legs, too tall and too skinny with pale skin and boring brown eyes and hair. She preferred ripped jeans and beat up Converse to dresses and heals and absolutely hated make up. Her hair always stayed down or in a messy pony tail or bun that she didn't even take time to do properly. He more than likely went for girls with class, with brains and beauty. While she was more boyish than anything. After all she was a vampire hunter for goodness sake. She was fit and knew how to handle weapons and how to kill someone with a everyday object like a pencil. She even carried weapons in her car and bag and was constantly looking for a potential threat. Something no guy would ever look for in a girl. It always ended the same way whenever a guy figured out exactly what she did for a living. They usually called her crazy and then told her that they wanted nothing to do with her ever again. She knew that Damon would be like the rest so there was no point in even trying. Though that didn't mean that she couldn't enjoy the view.
"Hello Damon, what brings you here?"
"I was just shopping for some things and wanted to stop by and say a quick hello."
She bit her lip as she took in the lack of groceries and cart that he had and gave him a disbelieving look. "C'mon, we both know thats a lie. Now what was it really that you came for?"
"You caught me," he admitted with a smirk. "I was actually in the hardware store, getting a few things and saw you come in here. I wanted to ask you out for coffee so we could get to know one another better."
"Is this your own strange way of asking me out?"
His smirk widened, "No, just out as two coworkers simply talking over a cup of coffee. I've had a few suspicions about some of the members of the council and wanted to talk to you in private about it. See if you can give me your opinion and whats the best way to go about it."
She stood there for a moment, contemplating whether or not to agree. He was good looking but seemed to be keeping something from the council which in return made her not want to trust him. But Sheriff Forbes seemed to trust him well enough and Bennett knew that she had good judgement. Though that wasn't going to stop her from bringing her guard down when she was around Damon. But maybe by agreeing she would be able to get on his good side and figure out what exactly he was hiding. So that was the reason she found herself nodding and agreeing to what he asked.
They made a plan to give her an hour to finish grocery shopping and quick stop at her apartment to drop her bags off. Once he agreed and walked away, she grabbed what she had been meaning to get from the shelf in front of her and then steered her cart towards the checkout lines so she could head home as quickly as possible. Thankfully she only lived less than three minutes from the grocery store so in no time she found herself unlocking her front door while trying to balance all the bags in her hands and get inside without harming herself. Bennett only put away the groceries that needed to be put in the fridge and left the others for later and rushed into her bedroom to change. Of course she knew that it wasn't a date but he had started talking to her right after she had gone for run and looked as gross as she felt and was in desperate need of a shower.
The shower was heating up as she scanned he closet for something a little better to wear and settled for a pair of skinny jeans and a clean shirt and carried them into the bathroom with her once she knew the shower was ready. Once she was out of the shower a few minutes later and dressed, she ran a brush and product through her hair and blow dried it and style it quickly, knowing that she was running out of time. When she was finished, she gave Ollie a kiss and then grabbed her keys and bag and rushed out the door, just barely on time. Thankfully the drive to the coffee shop was quick and she didn't get stopped at any stop lights so it didn't make her officially late.
When she walked into the shop, she glanced around and found Damon sitting at a table in the corner of the shop. When she approached the table, he stood from his seat as she took the one opposite him. Once he was seated also with a friendly hello accompanied by that ever present smirk, he offered to go get her drink for her. She tired to say no but he was persistent and she finally gave in and he excused himself go order for them.
"So what exactly was is that you wanted to speak with me about?" Bennett asked once Damon had returned with their drinks.
"Well, I wanted to understand the Association better. I've never heard of it before and I'm curious."
Nodding, she set her drink down and leaned in a little. The easiest conversations for her were about things that she was passionate about. But one of the hardest things about her job was that not many people actually knew the truth about vampires, werewolves, and witches. They still thought that they were part of children's books and that there was no possible way that it could be true. But it was and she loved her job so of course she wanted to talk about it, but of course she couldn't. So whenever someone asked what she did, she had to say that she was an aid to the police when needed for different investigations going on. Which is basically what she did, but the thing she didn't tell anyone who asked was that she investigated the creatures that no one believed existed. It was the hardest when the police who called her in didn't even know they existed and she had to give another more rational story to what was happening in their towns to cover up the truth. The Association always believed that the less people who knew about the existence of the creatures the better. So she ended up lying to the town who wanted nothing more than the answers as to why gruesome murders or animal attacks where happening in their town. That was one of the hardest parts of her job.
"What exactly do you want to know about it?"
Damon smiled, another mysterious secretive smile that Bennett wanted to know what he was hiding but before she could mention it he was already speaking. "How did it get founded? I've known about vampires since I was young but I never knew about the Association, didn't even know something like that existed."
"Thats how they want it to be. I never even heard of such a thing until they contacted me five years ago. The Association started about ten years ago because of the increased vampire sighting throughout the country. Their main goal is to train anyone willing to know the best ways to outsmart and kill a vampire or werewolves and witches too if need be. But right now the vampires are the biggest problem. You go through a year and a half course of everything needed and for a year and a half after you pass all your exams you are teamed up with a mentor and given assignments. Then after the mentor passes you the trainee is at the highest level of hunters and allowed to go on missions alone. They can also further train to become the leader of group missions which takes about another half a year to go through."
"So how did you get involved?"
Bennett sighed as images of her past flashed in her mind. She wasn't proud of some of the things she had done, but joining the Association was one of the better things she had done in her life. But before she was asked to come, she had a very troubled past, and that was one of the main reasons they had contacted her. To give her a second chance and new life away from her small town that seemed to hate her.
"I was just about to turn 18 when they first contacted me," she began, taking a deep breath already knowing it was going to be a long explanation from experience. "I had a really bad past, getting into trouble. Making the police, the town, and my own family hate me. Then about a month before my birthday the Association sent me a letter explaining that they were aware that I knew the truth about vampires and offered me a place in the next year they were teaching to become a hunter. And for a teenager with a bad past and no real future planned, it sounded like a great idea. So I packed up the little I owned in my beat up old car and drove out to California. And thats where I've been ever since. I haven't been back to Mystic Falls for five years so its a little hard to get used to. Sheriff Forbes always saw me as a delinquent and she's really angry that I'm the one that was sent to help with the search. Neither of us knew that the other was informed on vampires until I was assigned to come here. My boss decided that it would be a good idea for me to come here, he knows all about my past and thought that it would help me get over my demons."
"And hows that working out for you?"
"So far not very well," she admitted. "Anyway, please can we stop talking about me? What about you? How did you end up in this tiny little town?"
"Well I grew up here and left when I was a little younger than you. But like you also I came back to face my demons and my brother wanted to come back to finish school here. Both our parents are gone and it's just been us for a while now and he wanted to come back to be closer to mom and dad I guess. And I couldn't say no, I'm his guardian and I honestly didn't see why not so we packed up and moved back here."
Bennett nodded slightly in understanding, suddenly realizing how similar they both were. Well, once you got past Damon's cockiness. Before she could say anything more, wanting to ask only a few of the dozens of questions she had for him, his phone rang. He gave her an apologetic smile as he grabbed his phone from the pocket in his leather jacket and checked the caller id before he answered. The conversation was short and stern and Bennett honestly tried not to eavesdrop but when he was sitting right across from him and the coffee shop now almost empty, it was hard not to.
Moments later he was saying goodbye to whoever it was and hung up. "Sorry about that, that was my brother."
"Is everything ok?" She asked, picking up on the worried look in his eyes. He may keep up stone face that doesn't show emotions but his eyes told her everything that his expressions didn't. She could tell that he loved his brother even though they had been through some hard times and that whatever he had said on the phone had Damon worried.
"Actually no, something came up and I unfortunately have to go. Maybe we can reschedule again?"
She nodded as he stood up, giving her one last slight smile before he was rushing out of the shop, leaving her suddenly feeling very alone. But it was something she was used to by then, she had been on her own since she was about ten, her mom always working and her father out of the picture for all of her life. Sure there was her little sister who she had been really close with until her mom kicked her out of the house once she turned 18. But she hadn't talked to her more than eight times in the last five years. Of course there was the mandatory phone call for holidays and birthdays, but besides that nothing, she had totally cut herself off from Mystic Falls as soon as she left. Bennett wasn't even sure if her sister knew she was back in town. Probably not since her mom always tried to protect her from Bennett even though they were inseparable before she left.
She looked up from the empty cup that she had been staring at with a sigh and stood from her seat, suddenly feeling the walls closing in around her. She threw her trash away and grabbed her keys as she crossed the parking lot to get to her car. As she was opening the door, she heard sudden laughter coming from across the street and found three girls walking together, talking with huge smiles on their faces. She instantly recognized all three of them and she forced herself to look away and get in her car as she felt her heart clench. She knew that coming back to Mystic Falls would stir up old memories and reopen old wounds but she didn't think it would be that bad. She had to force herself to go through each step of starting the car and driving away before they recognized her. Bennett didn't think she would be able to handle that if they saw her. So with a heavy heart she drove off as fast as she could back to her lonely apartment praying that a new assignment came so that she could get her mind off all the memories resurfacing and haunting her.